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Itt— iWU<>-I •»*'o 



PRINCETON 



IN 



AMERICAN HISTORY 



PROFESSOR WM. M. SLOANE 



y 



PRINCETON 



IN 



AMERICAN HISTORY 



AX ADDRESS DELIVERED TO A rOMPANY OF HISTORICAL PILGRIMS 



PROFESSOR WM. M. SLOANE 



ALEXANDER HALL 



WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8, 1894 



[Reprinted from the Princeton Press of August ii, 1894.] 



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COPTRIGHT, 1895, 
BY 

William M. Sloane. 



GIFT 

MRS \NOODROW WILSOM 

NOV. 25, 1939 



I'. 



PRINCETON IN AMERICAN HISTORY. 

BY MM. i\I. SLOANE. 

Princeton is by no means one of the oldest settlements in 
the State, and yet it has a history of two centuries, the iirst 
homestead having been established here in 1682. Although 
situated midway, or nearly so, l)etween the two largest Col- 
onial towns, and nearly equidistant from the head of naviga- 
tion on two important streams, the Raritan and the Delaware, 
it remained a quiet and unimportant hamlet for over half a 
century. Most of the travel between New York and Phil- 
adelphia went by way of Perth Amboy and Camden ; there 
was little to interrupt the humble labors of the settlers in 
clearing the forest and tilling the soil. 

Yet the roll call of Princeton's pioneers reveals 
names which are now synonymous with patriotism and 
famous wherever American history is studied : Stockton, 
Paterson, Boudinot, Randolph, and others almost as re- 
nowned. Their instinctive Americanism is first recorded in 
a successful protest to the provincial authorities against the 
quartering of British troops in their humble homes during 
the French and Indian war. 

Twelve years earlier, on October 22, 1746, the College of 
New Jersey had been chartered by Governor Hamilton, an 
act notable in American history because the first of its kind 
performed without authorization from England or the con- 
sent even ot the provincial legislature. The institution was 
opened under President Dickinson in May 1747, at Eiiza- 
bethtown. After his death, which occurred in October of 
the same year, the few students were tra4isferred to Newark 
and put under the care of the Rev. Aaron Burr, one of the 
twelve trustees. On the fourteenth of the following Septem- 
ber, Jonathan Belcher, just appointed governor, granted a 



new charter fuller and more formal than the first. His interest 
in the college was from the outset very great, and his opin- 
ion, already formed, that Princeton was the most desirable 
spot for its permanent site, ultimately prevailed, the citizens 
of the hamlet proving more active and liberal than those of 
New Brunswick, already a good-sized town, to which like- 
wise terms were proposed "for fixing the college in that 
place." 

Thereafter the little settlement grew rapidly and soon be- 
came a considerable village. In 1756 the new buildings were 
virtually completed and the college was transferred to its 
future home, i^otable men from throughout the State and 
from both the cities of New York and Philadelphia became 
interested in the new seat of learning. More noteworthy 
still were those who taught and those who studied in it. 
Within a decade after the completion of Nassau Hall the 
names of Burr, Edwards, Witherspoon, of Livingston, Rush 
and Ellsworth, of James Manning, Luther Martin and Nathan- 
iel Niles became Princeton names. The stream of influential 
patronage havingbeen established, it remained constant until 
long after the Revolution. It included men from New Eng- 
land on the one hand, and from the South on the other, with of 
course a powerful element from the Middle States. 

Princeton College is the child of Yale. But the parting 
was not entirely amicable. Theological controversy grew 
very fierce even for the Connecticut Valley in the days of 
Whitefield's preaching. The Conservative or Old Lights 
held the reins and were not kindly disposed toward the in- 
novators or New Lights. The trouble culminated in the 
expulsion from Yale of David Brainerd because, defying the 
Faculty's express command, he attended Nevv Light meet- 
ings and would not profess penitence for his fault. This 
occurred in 1739; thereafter an ever stronger feeling of dis- 
content smouldered among the liberal Calvinists until finally 
the way was clear for founding a new training-school for 
the ministry and the learned professions on broad and gen- 



erous lines. Brainerd became a most successful and famous 
missionary, was betrothed to the dauo^hter of Jonathan 
Edwards and died at her father's house, a victim of his own 
laborious and devoted life, less than a year after the College 
of New Jersey was founded by a body of liberal minded 
men of all orthodox religious denominations, under the in- 
fluence of a few leaders who sympathized with both himself 
and the Edwards theology. The first charter was granted 
by an Episcopalian governor to four Presbyterian clergymen, 
and one of the original trustees was a Quaker. Governor 
Belcher, who enlarged the charter and made the College 
" his adopted daughter," was a man of the most catholic feel- 
ing. Fourteen of the trustees under the permanent con- 
stitution were Presbyterian clergymen, an arrangernent 
corresponding to the similar one whereby the majority of the 
governing body of Yale was composed of Congregational 
ministers. This wise guardianship has kept the two univer- 
sities true to their traditions and the flourishing condition 
of both is the strongest proof anywhere atibrded that tem- 
poral aftairs do not necessarily suffer when committed to the 
charge of spiritual advisers. Considerable sums of money 
were raised in England by the personal solicitation of 
Tennent and Davies, two clergymen sent out for the pur- 
pose by the Trustees. The ten laymen of the first Prince- 
ton board represented various orthodox denominations, 
including Episcopalians and Quakers. There is not a 
syllable in the charter concerning creeds, confessions or re- 
ligious tests. It is very significant of the vast improvement 
in public morality that a college founded under such auspi- 
ces a hundred and fifty years ago was partly endowed and 
supported by lotteries authorized and drawn both in Con- 
necticut and New Jersey. 

From the day when the College was installed in its grand 
new home, history-making went on apace in Princeton. 
Nassau Hall was a majestic building for those days : distin- 
guished foreign visitors to America all noted its dimensions 



6 

and architecture in their written accounts of travel; and in- 
deed even now, witli the tasteless alterations of chimneys, 
roof and towers made necessary by tire and carried through 
with ruthless economy, it may be considered one of the 
great monumental college buildings in America. It is, how- 
ever, far more than this; we assert, without fear of con- 
tradiction that it has no peer as the most historic university 
pile in the world. This contention rests on the fact that it 
saw the discomtiture of the British at the ebb-tide of the 
American rebellion, harbored the government of the United 
States in its critical moments and cradled the Constitution 
makers of the greatest existing republic. No other univer- 
sity hall has been by turns fortress and barrack, legislative 
chamber and political nursery in the birththroes of any land 
comparable to our land. 

The building was designed to be complete in itself; it con- 
tained lodgings for a hundred and forty-seven students, with 
a refectory, library and chapel. The class which entered 
under Dickinson, the first president, had six members, of 
whom five became clergymen. His untimely death a year 
after his election made his administration the shortest but 
one in the College history. During the ten years of Burr's 
tenure ef oflice (1747-1757) the total number of students was 
a hundred and fourteen ; half of them entered the ministry. 
The short presidency of Jonathan Edwards lasted but a few 
months. It gave the glory of his name, that of America's 
greatest metaphysician, to the College, the sacred memories 
of his residence to the venerable mansion now occupied by 
the Dean, and the hallowed custody of his mortal remains 
to the Princeton graveyard, a spot to which thousands have 
made a pilgrimage for the sake of his great renown. In this 
enclosure he lies beside his son-in-law, the Rev. Aaron Burr, 
who was his predecessor. At his feet are the ashes of the bril- 
liant and erratic grandson, the Aaron Burr so well-known to 
students of American history. President Davies,'who followed 
Edwards, held his office for only two years, and was sue- 



ceeded by Finlej' who presuled for fiv^e. Tiider the latter 
the number of students present at one time rose to one 
hundred and twenty. All told, a hundred and thirty sat 
under his instruction, and of these less than half, fifty-nine, 
became clergymen. 

This tendency to send fewer and fewer men into the min- 
istry is highly significant. It reached its climax under the 
next president — the great Scotchman whose name is among 
the most honored in the history of his adopted country — 
John Witherspoon, His incumbency was coincident with the 
revolutionary epoch, lasting from 1768-1794. In those 
twenty-six years tour hundred and sixtj^-nine young men 
graduated from the College; of these, only a hundred and 
fourteen, less than a quarter, became clergymen, an average 
of between four and five a year. This phenomenon 
was due to the fact that Witherspoon, though lecturing on 
Divinity like his predecessors was vastly more interested in 
political than in religious philosophy. So notorious was 
this fact that many a pious youth bent on entering the 
ministry passed the very doors of liberal Princeton to seek 
the intenser atmosphere of Y'ale orthodoxy, while many a 
boy patriot from jSTew England came hither to seek the 
distinction of being taught by Dr. Witherspoon. 

The first eight years of Witherspoon's presidency era- 
braced the period of political ferment in the colonies which 
ushered in the war of the Revolution. From the very begin- 
ning of his residence in America, the new president es- 
poused the colonial cause in every conflict with Great 
Britain ; he was soon accounted "as high a son of liberty as 
any man in America." Not content with enlarging and 
renovating the College course, he collected funds throughout 
the colonies from Boston to Charleston, and even laid 
Jamaica under contribution to fill the depleted College chest. 
From the pulpit of the old First Church his voice rang out 
in denunciation of the English administration until in his 
native land he was branded as a rebel and a traitor. The 



spread of the Reformation was more largely due to the fact 
that Luther was a professor in the University of Wittenberg 
than to any other single cause, the adherence to the Revolu- 
tion of the powerful Scotch and Scotch-Irish element in the 
colonies was chiefly if not entirely secured by the teachings 
of John Witherspoon from his professor's chair in Nassau 
Hall, To him and John Dickinson, author of the "Farmer's 
Letters," belongs the credit of having convinced the sober 
middle classes of the great middle colonies that the breach 
with England was not merely inevitable but just, and to their 
interest. 

But Witherspoon was more than a teacher, he was a prac- 
tical statesman. His country seat was a farm on the southern 
slope of Rocky Hill, about a mile due north of Nassau Hall. 
Its solid stone walls still bear the classic name of Tusculura, 
which he save it. In his hours of retirement at that beloved 
home he brooded, I fear, more on the rights of man than on 
human depravity, more on law than on theology, more on 
Providence in His present dealings with men than on the re- 
moter meanings of God's word. In the convention which 
framed the constitution of New Jersey, he amazed the other 
delegates by his technical knowledge of administration and 
led in their constructive labors; he assisted in the overthrow 
of William Franklin, the royal governor; was elected to the 
Continental Congress, and in the critical hour spurred on 
the lagging members who hesitated to take the fatal step of 
authorizing their president and secretary to sign and issue 
the Declaration of Independence, With solemn emphasis 
he declared : " For my own part, of property I have some, 
of reputation more. That reputation is staked, that prop- 
erty is pledged on the issue of this contest ; and although 
these gray hairs must soon descend into the sepulchre, I 
would infinitely rather that they descend thither by the hand 
of the executioner, than desert at this crisis the sacred cause 
of my country." 

The word " God" occurs but once in that famous docu- 
ment. Jefferson wrote it with a small " g." Witherspoon 



9 

was the solitary clergyman among the signers ; neither he 
nor his neighbor, friend and supporter, Richard Stockton, of 
Morven, who was a member of his church, set tiieir hands 
the less firmly to sign the paper. Finall}', Witherspoon was 
a member of the secret committee of Congress which really 
found the means of moral and material support for the war 
down to its close. He was chosen in the darkhoursof Nov- 
ember, 1776, to confer with Washington on the military 
crisis ; he was a member, with Richard Henry Lee and John 
Adams, of the committee appointed that same winter to fire 
the drooping spirits of the rebels when Congress was driven 
from Philadelphia to Baltimore. He was a member, too, of 
the boards of war and finance, wrote state papers on the 
currency, and framed many of the most important bills 
passed by the Continental Congress. It was not unnatural 
that, when at the close of the war Congress was terrified by 
unpaid and unruly Continentals battering at its doors in 
Philadelphia, it should seek refuge and council, as it did. in 
John Witherspoon's college. 

Thus it happened that Nassau Hall became one of the 
hearthstones on which the fires of patriotism burned 
brightest. From 1766 to 1776 there were graduated two 
hundred and thirty young Americans. What their temper 
and feeling must have been ma}' be judged from 
the names of those among them who afterwards became 
eminent in public life. Ephraim Brevard, Pierrepont 
Edwards, Churchill Houston, John Henry, John 
Beatty, James Linn, Frederick Frelinghuysen, Gunning 
Bedford, Hugh Brackinridge, Philip Freneau and 
James Madison; Aaron Burr, Henry Lee, Aaron Ogden, 
Brockholst Livingston and Wm. Richardson Davie. Those 
ten years produced twelve Princetonians who sat in the 
Continental Congress, six who sat in the Constitutional 
Convention, one President of the United States, one Vice- 
President, twenty-four Members of Congress, three Judges of 
the Supreme Court, one Secretary of State, one Postmaster- 



10 

General, three Attorney-Generals, and two foreign ministers. 
It may well be supposed that the clergymen who were their 
comrades in those days of ferment were, like their great 
teacher, no opponents of political preaching. The influence 
of such a body of young men, when young men seized and 
held the reins, was incalculable. 

" We have no public news," writes James Madison Ironi 
Princeton on July 28, 1770, to his friend, Thomas Martin, 
^' but the base conduct of the merchants in New York in 
breaking through their spirited resolutions not to import: a 
distinct account of which, I suppose, will be in the Virginia 
Gazette, before this arrives. The letter to the merchants in 
Philadelphia, requesting their concurrence, was lately 
burned by the students of this place in the college j^ard, all of 
them appearing in their black gowns and the bell tolling. 
• • • There are about 115 in the College and in the 
Grammar School, all of them in American cloth." 

"Last week to show our patriotism," wrote in 1774 
another Princeton student, Charles Beatty, " we gathered 
all the steward's winter store of tea, and having made a fire 
in the campus we there burnt near a dozen pounds, toiled 
the bell, and made many spirited resolves. But this was 
not all. Poor Mr. Hutchinson's effiiry shared the same fate 
with the tea, having a tea canister tied about his neck." 

With such a nursery of patriotism at its very hub the 
temper of the surrounding community can easily be pictured. 
The proposition for a provincial congress came from Prince- 
ton. John Hart, a farmer from the neighboring township 
of Hopewell, and Abraham Clark, a farmer's son from the 
neighboring county, were associated with graduates from 
Princeton College and delegates from Princeton town in 
conducting its deliberations. Both were made delegates to 
the Continental Congress and both, along with Witherspoon 
and Stockton, were signers of the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence. Even Francis Hopkinson, the fifth signer for this 
State, a Philadelphia!! in reality, though a terapo!'a!'y 



11 

resident of Bordentowii, was as the friend and co-worker ot 
Freneau and Brackinridge intimately associated with 
Princeton influence. When rebellion was finally in full 
swing, the committee of safety for New Jersey held its ses- 
sions here, probably in Nassau Hall, possibly in the famous 
tavern. It is well known that neither the continenta 
army nor the people of the United States at large 
were profoundly impressed b}' the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. This was not the case in Princeton, for the 
correspondent of a Philadelphia paper wrote that on July 
9, 1776, " Nassau Hall was grandly illuminated and 
independenc}' proclaimed under a triple volley of musketry, 
and universal acclamation for the prosperity of the United 
States, with the greatest decorum." 

Seven days previous to this demonstration, the Provincial 
Congress, sitting at Trenton, had adopted a new State con 
stitution, nine days later the first Legislature of the State 
assembled in Nassau Hall — the College Library room — and 
chose Livingston governor. They continued more or less 
intermittently in session until the following October after 
the invasion of the State by British forces. Before the 
invaders they fled to Trenton, then to Burlington, to Pitts- 
town, and finally to Haddonfleld. After the battles of 
Princeton and Trenton they promptly returned to their first 
seat and resumed their sessions. 

The storm of war broke upon Princeton early in Decem- 
ber of the same year, 1776. The British army, landed from 
Howe's fleet in New York bay, had entirely worsted the 
American forces. Brooklyn, New York, Fort Washington 
with Fort Lee had been successively abandoned, and Wash- 
ington in his memorable retreat across this State reached 
Princeton on the first of December. Stirling, with one 
thousand two hundred Continentals, was left as a reargfuard, 
while the commander-in-chief with the rest, one thousand 
eight hundred, and his stores, pushed on to Trenton, whence 



12 

he crossed in safety to the right bank of the Delaware. On 
the seventh, Cornwallis entered the town at the head of six 
thousand Anglo-Hessian veterans, driving Stirling before 
him. The invaders were quartered in the College and in 
the church. Both Tusculum and Morven, the estates of the 
archrebels Witherspoon and Stockton, were pillaged, and 
the new house of Sergeant was burnt. All the neighboring 
farms were laid under contribution tor forage. 

Disaftectiou followed Washington's retreat. Large 
numbers of the people and many of the State oiScials 
accepted the English offers of amnesty. The patriots were 
compelled to abandon their homes and fiy across the 
Delaware. Two regiments were left by Cornwallis in 
Princeton as a garrison. The rest of his troops were estab- 
Ushed in winter quarters at New Brunswick, Trenton and 
Bordentown. Washington's thin and starving line stretched 
along the Delaware from Coryell's Ferry to Bristol. Con- 
gress fled to Baltimore. Putnam, with no confidence in 
Washington's ability even to hold his ground, was making 
ready for a desperate defence of Philadelphia. 

There was as yet no French alliance, no adequate supply 
of money raised either at home or abroad, no regular or 
even semi-regular army, nothing, apparently, but a dis- 
orderly little rebellion ; for the first promise of constancy in 
New England and of regular support for a considerable force 
of volunteers had had as yet no fulfilment. The English 
felt that the early ardours of radical and noisy rebels would 
fade like a mist before Howe's success ; Canada was lost, 
New York as far as the Highlands was in British hands, so 
also were New Jersey and Long Island, which latter 
virtually controlled Connecticut. Howe believed the rebel- 
lion was broken, Cornwallis had engaged passage to return 
home. 

While the British were lulled into security Washington 
and the patriots though desperate were undaunted. A well 
considered and daring plan for a decisive sally from their 



13 

lines was formed and carried to a successful issue. On 
Christmas night two thousand four hundred men were ferried 
over the Delaware nine miles above Trenton ; the crossing 
was most dangerous, owing to tlie swollen waters and the 
flowing ice ; the ensuing march was made in spite of a dread- 
ful storm. The atfair at Trenton was scarcely a battle, it was 
rather a surprise ; the one thousand two hundred Hessians 
Avere taken unawares and O'lly a hundred and sixty-two 
escaped, nearly a thousand were captured. What made it 
the great event it was, was its electrical eifect in restoring 
courage to patriots everj^where, together with the inestimable 
value to Washington's troops of the captured stores and arms. 
He did not occupy the captured place at all, but returned 
immediately to his encampment on the other shore to relit. 

The ensuing week was certainly the most remarkable in 
our history. The English in New York were thrown into 
consternation. Cornwallis hastened back to Princeton 
where he collected between seven and eight thousand men, 
the flower of the British army. Washington's force, on the 
other hand, wuis reinforced with a speed and zeal bordering 
on the miraculous. Three thousand volunteers came in 
from the neighborhood and from Philadelphia, The term 
of service for nine hundred of his men would expire on New 
Year's day ; these were easily induced, in the new turn of 
affairs, to remain six weeks longer. Washington and John 
Stark both jjledged their private fortunes and Robert Morris 
raised fifty thousand dollars in Philadelphia. The mourning 
of the patriots throughout the Middle States was changed 
into rejoicing. 

On the thirtieth of December the American army began to 
recross the Delaware ; the movement was slow and difficult 
owing to the ice, but was completed the following day. On 
Jan. 1. 1777, Washington wrote from Trenton that he had 
about two thousand two hundred men with him, that Mitfiin 
had about one thousand eight hundred men at Bordentown 
on the right wing and that Cadwalader had about as many 



14 

more at Crossvvicks, some miles to the east. He thought 
that no more than one thousand eight hundred of those 
who passed the river with himself were available for fighting, 
but he intended to " pursue the enemy and break up their 
quarters." 

Next day Cornwallis, leaving three regiments and a com- 
pany of cavalry at Princeton, set out by the old king's 
highway for Trenton. At Maidenhead, now Lawrenceville, 
there was a skirmish between his van and the American 
outposts ; thence for over five miles his march was harassed 
by irregular bodies of his foe, Gen. Hand being stationed 
in command of a detachment, at Shabbakong creek, and 
Gen. Greene about a mile this side of Trenton. It was 
four o'clock, and therefore late in the short winter day when 
the English general reached the outskirts of the city. There 
stood Washington himself with a fe'.v more detachments, 
ready still further to delay the British march through the 
town. Withdrawing slowl}-, the last continental crossed the 
bridge over the Assanpink in safety, to fall behind the 
earthworks, which in anticipation of the event had been 
thrown up and fortified with batteries on the high banks 
behind. 

The British attacked at once, but were repulsed ; undis- 
mayed they pressed on again, and again they were driven 
back across the narrow stream. The spirited conflict con- 
tinued until nightfall, when the assailants finally gave up 
and withdrew to bivouac and renew the fight ne.xt morning. 
In this aft'air on the Assanpink about a hundred and fifty, 
mostly British, were killed. Cornwallis dispatched messen- 
gers to summon the men he had left at Maidenhead and 
Princeton, determined if possible to surround, overwhelm 
and annihilate Washington next day. But the battle on the 
AssaTipink was destined to be the only real fighting in Tren- 
ton. Washington had in mind the strategic move which 
rendered this campaign one of his greatest. He determined 
to outfiank his foe by a circuitous march to Princeton over 
the unguarded road on the south side of the Assanpink. 



ir, 

The night was (Uirk and cold ; the campiires of both lines 
burned strong and bright. Beliind those of Cornwallis 
there was a bustle of preparation for the next day's battle ; 
behind those of Washington there was a stealthy making 
ready for retreat. The baggage was packed and dispatched 
to Burlington ; a few men were detached to keep the fires 
well fed and clear, the rest silently stole away about 
midnight. Their march was long, between sixteen 
and eighteen miles, and difficult because the frost had 
turned the mud on the roads into hummocks. But at 
sunrise on the third of January the head of the column 
had crossed Stony Brook by the bridge on the (Quaker road, 
and stood about a mile and three-quarters from Princeton, 
awaiting the result of a council of war. They were masked 
by the piece of woods which is still standing behind the 
(Quaker meeting house. It was determined that Washing- 
on with the main column should march across the fields, 
through a kind of depression in the rolling land intervening 
between the meeting-house and Princeton, in order to reach 
the town as quickly as possible. Mercer, with three hun- 
dred and fifty men and two field pieces, was to follow the 
road half a mile further to its junction with the King's 
highway, and there blow up tlie bridge over Stony Brook 
by which Cornwallis' reserve, marching to Trenton, must 
cross the stream. This would likewise detain Cornwallis 
himself on his return in pursuit. 

There were three actions in the battle of Princeton. Two 
of the three English regiments left in reserve at Prince- 
ton, were under way betimes to join Cornwallis at Trenton. 
One of these under Col. Mawhood, with three companies 
of horse, had already crossed Stony Brook and had climbed 
the hill beyond before they descried Mercer following 
the road in the valley below; the other was half a mile 
behind, on this side the stream. Mawhood quickly turned 
back and, unitinor the two, engaged Mercer. The Americans 



16 

were armed with rifles which had no bayonets, and although 
nearly equal in number to the enemy they were first slowl^^ 
then rapidly driven up the hill to the ridge south of the king's 
highway and east of the Quaker road. They stood firm be- 
fore the firing of the English, but yielded when the enemy 
charged bayonets. In this encounter Mercer was severely 
wounded and left for dead. Many other officers were like- 
wise wounded as they hung back striving to rally the flying 
troops. 

Washington, hearing the firing, stopped immediately and 
leaving tlje rest of his column to follow their line of march, 
put himself at the head of the Pennsylvania volunteers and 
wheeled. Summoning two pieces of artillery he turned 
northward to join the retreating force of Mercer. The British 
reached the crest of the hill in pursuit before they saw Wash- 
ington's column. The sight brought them to a halt, and 
while they formed their artillery came up. It seemed to 
Washington a most critical moment. In an instant Mercer's 
command was fused with his own men, and placing himself 
well out before the line, he gave the order to advance. There 
was no halt until the commander himself was within thirty 
yards of the foe ; at that instant both lines volleyed simul- 
taneously. The fire w^as hasty and inefiective. Washington, 
as if by a miracle, was unscathed. As the smoke blew away, 
an American brigade came in under Hitchcock, wdiile Hand 
with his riflemen attacked tlie British flank. In a few mo- 
ments Mawhood gave up the tight; his troops after a few 
brave ettbrts broke and retreated over the hill up the valley 
of Stony Brook. The bridge was then destroyed. 

Meantime the head of the American column had reached 
the outskirts of Princeton. There on the edge of the ravine 
now known as Springdale was posted still athird British force 
composed of soldiers from the 40th and 55th Line. The Ameri- 
cans, with Stark at their head, attacked and drove them back 
as far as Nassau Hall, into which the fugitives hastily threw 
themselves. From the v.'indows scattered remnants of their 



17 

regiments could be seen flying througli fields atid by-ways 
tovvardXewBrunsvvick. The American artillery began to play 
on the Vt^alls of the building; one ball, it is said, crashed 
through the roof and tore from its frame the effigy of George 
II., hanging in the Prayer Hall. A Princeton militiaman, with 
the assistance of his neighbors, finally burst the door and 
the little garrison surrendered. 

When Donop retreated from Bordentown to Princeton 
^fter the battle of Trenton, he threw up an arrow-head breast- 
work at the point where now Mercer and Stockton streets 
join ; on this still lay a cannon of the size known as a 
thirty-two pounder, the carriage of which was dismantled. 
It w^as early morning when Cornwallis became f.ware 
that his expected battle Avould not be fought at Tren- 
ton ; the roar of artillery gave him the terrible assurance 
that the blow had been struck on his weakened flank, that 
his precious stores atXew Brunswick were in danger. Swiftly 
he issued the necessary orders and, just as Washington was 
'leaving Princeton, appeared at the west end of the town on the 
King's highway, his van havingbeen delayed in crossing Stony 
Brook. The citizens had loaded the gun in the breastwork 
and on the approach of the intruders they fired it. This 
•utterly deceived the English generals, for they thought them- 
selves facing a well-manned battery. It was an hour before 
they were undeceived and in that precious interval Wash- 
ington collected his army and marched away. His forces 
were too weak to risk the venture of seizing New Bruns- 
wick, even temporarily; accordingly he turned northwest- 
ward and reached Morristown in safety. There and at 
Middlebrook his headquarters practically remained for the 
-rest of the war. The English were content to secure New 
Brunswick. 

In the battle of Princeton there were engaged somewhat 
•under 2,000 men on each side. The actual fighting lasted 
less than half an hour. We lost very few men — so few 
that the number cannot accurately be reckoned — possibly 



18 

30, but we lost a brave general, Hugh Mercer, a colonel, a 
major and three captains. The English soldiers fought 
with unsurpassed gallantry. The}' lost two hundred killed 
and two hundred and fifty captured, but no officers of 
distinction. It was not, therefore, a big fight, but it was 
none the less a great an^l decisive battle. How import- 
ant Washington felt it to be, is attested by his personal 
exposure of himself How decisive the great military 
critics have considered it, is shown by the fact that the 
campaign of which it was the finishing stroke is held by 
them to have been typical of his genius as a strategist. The 
two aftairs of Trenton and Princeton are in our short histo- 
riesgenerally reckoned together. And naturally so since they 
occurred so near to one another in time and place. But stra- 
tegically and tactically examined, the battle of Trenton made 
good Washington's position behind the Dalaware, the battle 
of Princeton secured New Jersey and the Middle States. 

After the preliminary actions which took place in New 
England the remainder of the Revolution falls into three 
portions — the struggle for the Hudson, to secure communi- 
cation between New England and the Middle States ; the 
struggle for the Delaware, to secure communication between 
the Middle States and the South ; and thirdly the eftbrt to 
regain the South. After the battle of Princeton, Washing- 
ton was able to establish aline from Amboy around by the 
west and south to Morristown; New England, the Middle 
and Southern States were in communication with each other 
and free. As a result of the first campaign by a numerous 
and well-equipped Anglo-German army the English held 
Newport in Rhode Island and New York Cit}^ with posts 
at Kingsbridge on the North and at New Brunswick on the 
south. The proof was finally secured that Washington with 
a permanent army such as the colonies might, unassisted, 
have furnished him, would have been a match for any land 
force the English could have transported to America. 

For the remaining years of the war Princeton was held 
by the Americans. Both the legislature of the State and the 



19 

Council of Safety held their meetings within its precincts; 
for a time Putnam was in command of the little garrison, 
for a time Sullivan. Early in 1781 thirteen hundred mutinous 
Pennsylvanians of Washington's army marched away from 
Morristown and came in a body to Princeton. They were 
met by emissaries from Clinton who strove to entice them from 
their allegiance. But though mutinous they were not trait- 
ors, for they seized the emissaries and handed them over to 
General Wayne to be treated as spies. A comu ittee of 
Congress appeared and made such arrangements as pacified 
them. In the autumn of the same 3'ear the victory at York- 
town was celebrated with illuminations and general rejoic- 
ings. The College was again in session with forty students 
and local prosperity was restored. In 1782 there w-as held 
a meeting to support the continuance of the war. 

The Revolutionary epoch was fitly brought to a close by 
a meeting of Congress in Nassau Hall. On June 20, 1783, 
three hundred Pennsylvania soldiers who were discontent- 
ed with the terms of their discharge marched from Lan- 
caster to Philadelphia and beset the doors of Congress, 
holding that assembly imprisoned for three hours under 
threat of violence if their wrongs were not redressed. The 
legislators resolved to adjourn to Princeton. They were 
made heartily welcome, the college halls were put at their 
disposal, and the houses of the citizens were hospitably 
opened for their entertainment. Their sessions were held 
regularly in the college library for over four months, 
until the fourth of November, when they adjourned to 
meet at Annapolis three weeks later. Washington was 
here twice during this time : once at commencement in 
September, when he made a present of fifty guineas to 
the trustees — a sum they laid out in the portrait by 
Peale which now hangs in Nassau Hall, filling, it is said, 
the very frame from which that of George II. was shot 
away during the battle. The second time he came in 



20 

October, at the request of Boudinot, President of Cono^ress, 
and a trustee of the College, to give advice concerning such 
weighty matters as the organization of a standing army to 
defend the frontiers, of a militia to maintain internal order, 
and of the military school. The Commander-in chief was 
received in solemn session and congratulated by the Pres- 
ident on the success of the war. He replied in fitting terras. 
According to tradition he occupied while in attendance on 
Congress a room in the house still standing in a dilapidated 
condition on the corner of Witherspoon and Nassau streets, 
but his residence was a stone house three miles away on the 
hill above the town of Rocky Hill. It was from that place 
that he issued his famous farewell address to the army. 

But the greatest occasion in Princeton's history was on the 
thirty-first of the same month. Congress had assembled in 
the Prayer Hall to receive in solemn audience the minister 
plenipotentiary from the Netherlands. There were present 
besides the members Washington, Morris, the superin- 
tendent of finance, Luzerne, the French envoy, and many 
other men of eminence. The company had just assembled 
when news came that the Treaty of Peace had been signed 
at Versailles. Many brilliant and beautiful women were 
present, and their unchecked delight doubled the enthusiasm 
of all. The reception was the most brilliant public function 
thus far held by the now independent republic. On the 
twenty-fifth of November the British evacuated New York. 
Washington left Princeton to attend the ceremony, and after- 
ward journeyed by Annapolis to hishomeat Mt. Vernon. He 
believed that, his military career being concluded, he was to 
spend the rest of his days as a private gentleman. 

Providence had ordained otherwise. He had carried the 
difficult, strange and desultory war of the Revolution to a 
successful end ; he had by wise counsel and firmness averted 
the dangers of a civil war which seemed imminent from the 
temper of those about his headquarters at Newburgh. Once 
more he was to enter the arena of embittered strife, but then 



21 

political and not military. Three of the five great actions 
in which he was personally present during the Revolution 
were fought on Jersey soil ; his next leadership was dis- 
played in a contest waged in Philadelphia, but largely by 
Jerseymen or Princetonians. Princeton's place in American 
history can not be understood without consideration of the 
Constitutional Convention, where the passions of localism, 
separatism and sectional prejudice broke forth afresh. 
The assembly contained many wise and far-seeing men. 
Of its fifty-five members, thirty-two were men of academic 
training. There were one each from London, Oxford, 
Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Aberdeen, and five had been 
connected with the checkered fortunes of William and Mary. 
The University of Pennsylvania sent one, Columbia two. 
Harvard three, Yale four, and Princeton nine. The most 
serious dissension, as is well known, was concerning the 
relative importance of large and small States in legislation. 
The Virginia, or large State plan, was for two houses, basing 
representation in both on population. It was essentially 
the work of James Madison, a pupil of Witherspoon's. 
The Jersey, or small State, plan was for one house, wherein 
each State should have equal representation. It was the 
child of Paterson, another Princetonian. Over these two 
schemes the battle waged fiercely until it seemed that even 
Washington, the presiding officer, could not command 
peace or force a compromise; it was felt that the convention 
was on the verge of dissolution. Connecticut had ever been 
accustomed to two houses — one representing the people, one 
the towns. It was the compromise suggested on this 
analogy by Sherman and Ellsworth, and urged by them, 
with the assistance of Davie from Georgia, which finally 
prevailed. Ellsworth and Davie were both Princetonians. 
Madison joined hands with Washington in the successful 
struggle for the acceptance of the new constitution in 
Virginia — both Ellsworth and Paterson, their end attained, 
became the most ardent federalists. 



22 

Time, place and the men — these are the factors of history ; 
the first and the last vanish, the scenes alone remain. If 
history is to be felt, if you are to know in the concrete, 
from the experience of the men and women wiio have left 
the stage, what alone is possible for yourselves and your race, 
you do well to see and ponder the places which knew those 
who have gone before. Princeton will show you in Nassau 
Hall, a focus of patriotism — a cradle of liberty ; in her 
battlefield the spot where culminated one of the greatest 
campaigns of one of the greatest of generals — in that and in 
her sons the triumph of the moral forces which combine in 
true greatness. The lesson to be learned from Princeton's 
historic scenes should be that intellect and not numbers 
controls the world ; that ideas and not force overmaster 
bigness; that truth and right, supported by strong purpose 
and high principle, prevail in the end. 



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